Tabletopia Game Review

Tabletopia is an advanced digital arena for playing board games in an experience similar to a real tabletop. It has a growing roster of licensed games including designer classics like Tigris & Euphrates and recent hits such as Scythe.

The game offers a friendly interface and intuitive controls for PC players. It also features the advantages of a digital product: ready game setups, shuffling and dealing cards, and tracking player turns.

Gameplay

Over the past decade or so, I’ve seen more than a few digital tabletop solutions come and go. Some, like the popular Tabletop Simulator, are fun but open up the door to copyright infringement (not to mention cost). Others, like the Vassal system, require a lot of programming knowledge to get going.

Into this space has entered Tabletopia, which has blown past its Kickstarter goal and is available now as a free-to-play Steam release. This platform isn’t a dedicated app for any particular game, but instead provides an advanced virtual arena with all the perks of a digital implementation, including ready game setups, automated shuffling and dealing of cards and tracking player turns, etc.

Players can create their own tables and invite friends to join, or find games in the Find & Play section that are open to new participants. Interestingly, this includes Scythe, one of the year’s most anticipated strategy board games, with the publisher’s and designer’s blessing.

Graphics

Tabletopia is an advanced digital arena for playing board games that makes you feel like you are sitting at a real table. It includes hundreds of licensed board games, from designer classics to today’s Kickstarter hits and beyond. The game also features a free-to-play version of Scythe, one of this year’s top strategy unblocked games, with the publisher and designer’s blessing.

The game features amazing graphics, realistic physics and digital perks such as ready game setups and customizable cameras. Its friendly interface and intuitive controls make the experience a breeze. The platform is sandbox-based, so it doesn’t enforce rules or impose a single set of house rules.

Players can easily create their own tables and games with specialized tools for designing, playtesting, demonstrating and monetizing them (browser version). It supports a variety of different board game formats, including those with unique components that scale up or down depending on the number of players. All this is available in a free-to-play edition that doesn’t require any accounts.

Rules

In this board game, players compete to create the longest line of railway tunnels. They must rely on their cards and the strength they provide in order to win, or slow down opponents who are ahead. Although the game has some complexity, it is easy to understand and is suitable for beginners as well.

To host a game, simply find it in the All Games section or use Search. Then, click “Play Online” or “Play in Hotseat”. Once the room is created, you can invite friends from outside Tabletopia to join.

All games on Tabletopia are official releases from their publishers, so you know that the experience is exactly as it should be. The platform also offers a variety of digital advantages like ready game setups, shuffling and dealing cards automatically, etc. It even allows you to rotate, reposition, lock, flip or magnetically place the game objects. Moreover, the camera controls are intuitive for anyone who’s ever played a PC video game or isometric role-playing game.

Community

Tabletopia is a multi-platform digital arena for board games that blew past its Kickstarter goal with nearly a month to go. It provides all the advantages of a digital environment—automated game setup, shuffling and dealing cards, tracking player turns, etc.—but allows players to play with any rules they want.

It has already signed up a strong roster of established publishers, including Knizia games and Arcane Wonders. The catalog includes both standards like chess and Parcheesi as well as recent hits such as Tigris & Euphrates, Terra Mystica, and Imperial Settlers.

The best part is that games are free to share. All you need to do is add a link or room number for your guests and they can join in an instant. There’s also a Find & Play section that shows you which games are waiting for more players. This is a welcome feature as there are some games out there that can’t be played on existing systems because they require too many players.